INOXAP bags contract for setting up ASU unit at AM/NS India's Hazira plant

Inox Air Products, one of India’s largest manufacturers of industrial and medical gases, has bagged a contract to set up the fifth cryogenic air separation unit (ASU) at the Hazira plant of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India, as it gears up for expansion.  

Inox Air Products (INOXAP) said that the installation of the fifth ASU at Hazira will give shape to India’s largest single operator onsite industrial gas complex on a  build-own-operate (BOO) basis, which will support the first major expansion in India by ArcelorMittal after the acquisition of Essar Steel.

ArcelorMittal had acquired Essar Steel jointly with Nippon Steel in December 2019 under India’s insolvency law and renamed it ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India).

At an investment of Rs 300 crore, INOXAP’s proposed cryogenic ASU at AM/NS India’s Hazira plant, would have the capacity to generate 700 tonne per day (TPD) of gaseous oxygen and 300 TPD of gaseous nitrogen along with other liquid gases. Once completed, however, the gas complex would have a combined production capacity of more than 9,000 TPD of industrial gases.

Commenting on the development, Siddharth Jain, executive director, Inox Air Products said, “The deployment, which is projected to be commissioned in a record period of 15 months, will make us the proud operators of country’s largest onsite industrial gas complex on BOO basis, that too, in a plant operated by ArcelorMittal.”

Wim Van Gerven, chief operating officer of AM/NS India said, “We are pleased to partner with Inox Air Products for yet another oxygen plant at our Hazira facility as we begin our first major expansion in India post the acquisition of Essar Steel.”

The expansion will take AM/NS India’s production from 7.2 million tonne to 8.6 million tonnes. But AM/NS India has bigger plans, which is ramping up production to 12-15 million tonnes. It could also look at expanding its footprint at some point.

For INOXAP, the new contract is a continuation of a relationship that dates back to 2005, when Essar Steel, under the Ruias, had awarded a contract for an 885 TPD Cryogenic ASU on a BOO basis. 

Later, INOXAP was chosen as a preferred partner to outsource the majority of its captive ASUs resulting into INOXAP acquiring all three ASU assets of 1,700 TPD capacity each from Essar Steel in 2015, and entered into a long term contract for supply of all industrial gases on a BOO basis. 

Total investment of INOXAP, so far, at the units has been to the tune of Rs 1,100 crore; the fifth unit is an additional investment.

“For us, this (AM/NS India) is our most strategic customer and the single largest customer in the country,” said Jain.

INOXAP, it may be mentioned, empowers more than 1800 small, medium and large manufacturing organizations across dozens of sectors.

Gaining strength:

INOXAP bags contract to set up the fifth cryogenic ASU at AM/NS India’s Hazira plant, marking continuity of a relationship that goes back to erstwhile Essar Steel

Plant would have capacity to generate 700 TPD of gaseous oxygen and 300 TPD of gaseous nitrogen

Once completed, gas complex would have a capacity of 9,000 TPD of industrial gases